Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Bruce , CB1 and Bill - Male BG update

As far as I know, the PBoss article by Bruce, Cecil and I, about collecting, raising, selecting, and stocking all male bgill as an alternative form of fishery in a small pond is still a GO. Look for it in a late winter early spring issue if we can get everyone and everything co-ordinated.

I'm not sure what type of information you are specifically looking for from the "grand experiment" of Male Only BGill stocking. I put them in a yellow perch dominated pond and they are growing and doing well. I have not had a successful bgill spawn yet after 4 yrs. I have had a few male bgill in a friend's perch pond for about 9 years now and he has never had a bgill spawn. Since I only deal with a few fish at a time 10 to 40, I have ample time to sort & select and I am able to be real careful when I examine for male bgill and release only several, carefully selected fish at a time into the pond. Bgill with any doubtful sex characters are eaten or put back into a growout feed training cage until the next sorting session. Male bgill are usually 7.75"-8.7" when they go through a final selection and release into the pond. All but a very few of my male bgill go through three or four sortings over a 5 to 16 month period before release into the pond.

My water & air temps in early September are similar to those of Bruce's and Cecil's. Since I raise primarily yellow perch, I changed feeding from 2X per day to once a day when water temps went above 82F. My fish won't feed in the morning because they are strongly conditioned to feeding at noon or dusk. I have only a small group of 2 yr to 3 yr old perch and the male bgill that will feed at mid day; the majority of large perch feed only at dusk and best feeding activity occurs at late dusk. Since the water temps have recently dropped from 86F-88F to the high to mid 70's feedng activity has increased about 25%. I will not resume a midday feeding until the water temps reach low 70's. I do not feed for a production goal; I feed for enjoyment, relaxation, and for decent growth.

Male Only Bgill Status. I have about 40 to 50 male bgill in my 3/4 ac yellow perch dominated pond. I rarely fish for them in the summer. I catch them occassionally while ice fishing. I basically monitor their size and number when I feed them. Each potential male bgill is strongly conditioned in a fish cage to eat fish food before releasing them into the pond. I replace fish for fish when I harvest one or find one dead. Thus I have a range of size of male bgill from 8.5 to 11.75". The newest introductions are in the 8.5"to 9" range. Most of the older males are 10"to 11"+. Since I don't fish them often, I am not sure if there are any 12" bgill present. A couple look 12". Cecil says I always say I have really big fish when I seen them in the water. Smile. A 11.75" (25 oz) bgill died this spring and it had an honorable and photographic burial. So far my bgill seem to be dying of old age before they reach the 12" mark. Bruce by using his selective breeding & feeding technique will probably be the first one to be able to reliably produce several 12"+ bgill.